Tag: Sex

Condoms: some folks use and love them so much they buy stock in the manufacturer while others become and remain unhappily married just to avoid using them. The latex dick sheaths are one of our most commonly used barriers against the diseases we hate to think a partner is carrying and the unwanted pregnancies that cause emotional turmoil and worse, but they’re far from perfect. Sizing issues, discomfort, breakage, leakage, even allergic reactions have all ruined the effectiveness and enjoyability of condoms for many a user and with no truly significant advances in condom design or manufacturing arriving in recent years, it looked set to remain that way.

Enter Charlie Sheen. Since revealing himself to be HIV positive in late 2015, four years after being diagnosed, Sheen has been something of an odd poster child for protecting oneself against STDs and STIs, inadvertently driving up Google searches about condom use and effectiveness when his HIV status made international headlines. Appearing in a promotional video for Lelo, makers of fine sexual aids, Sheen speaks to his status and how it changed his world. Believing infection was simply something that would never happen to him, Sheen subtly admits to irresponsible practices and hopes that he can now urge others to put up with what “may feel like five seconds of inconvenience [but] may prevent a lifetime of potential grief and suffering.” And he’s bringing a new Lelo product with him, a stark redesign of the standard condom Lelo is calling (for obvious reasons) Hex.

Lelo claims Hex, a more durable and resilient condom that also touts greater sensation, is a bold new vision of condom engineering that address the three main issues with what we’ve all been using for decades: discomfort, slippage, and breakage. The thinnest and strongest material we have, graphene, lent its hexagonal structure to the redesign, reinforcing an ultra-thing sheath of latex to an amazing degree. Although it looks a little too similar to a penile torture device under certain light, Lelo assures would-be patrons of their IndieGoGo fundraising campaign that Hex is stronger, offers an inner raised design to cut down on slippage and maximize his pleasure, and sports ultra-thin latex panels that apparently conform to the shape of the wearer. Clearly, this is aimed to be the kind of condom that could contain even Clark Kent’s eruptions!

Although Lelo’s campaign does focus largely on comfort and pleasure – which, let’s face it, should be secondary concerns for condom wearers – the issues of safety also gets quite a few boastful mentions. As it’s fitted, Hex’s structure tessellates (or conforms to changing shape without inherent structural change) around the wearer’s member for a snug and safe fit. A fit even Sheen himself claims to be enjoying these days. A fit he also urges you to try for yourself.

Since arriving on the international porn scene in 2011 and making waves in the US industry thanks to her relentless pursuit of personal pleasure, devotion to full gender equality, or fondness for shooting anal, DP, and gangbang scenes, Italian goddess Valentina Nappi has become one of the more salient commentators on the ins-and-outs of the porn world. So, when GQ published a slightly disturbing article entitled “How to Ask for Anal Sex” only to then be followed by a red-pen wielding Complex writer who pointed out its numerous flaws and falsehoods – “Women like to be surprised,” claims GQ, but that doesn’t extend to surprise buttsecks! – we turned to the esteemed Ms. Nappi for her advice, compared it to that of GQ and Complex, and tried to figure out which source was providing the real assistance to anally-inclined readers. Guess who came out on top?

GQ writer, “sex expert” and hostess, Sarah Jane Banahan suggests forgoing mentioning or requesting an anal attempt in advance, telling readers to “undress her slowly, kiss her, tell her quietly that you are going to penetrate her from behind.” Yeah, kinda like that disturbing scene from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo! Complex, for its part, wanted answers and turned to sexologist Bianca Laureano to get them. “Articles like this are dangerous because they give men the impression they may do something sexual with a partner without their consent.” Real anal sex, dear readers, is nothing like a porn scenario. You don’t start out with heavy petting, say “Turn over, baby,” then dive in cock-first. What you want to do is follow the advice of someone who’s been on the receiving end of many an butt-hungry penis in her time, Ms. Valentina Nappi.

In a blog post entitled How to Do Anal, Valentina lays it out as clearly as anyone anal adventurer could want. First, she details cleanliness protocols, discussing how to administer an enema and how pornstars stay clean on set. Some take psyllium whole husks for a fiber blast thrice daily before a shoot while others take Imodium (“not a healthy decision,” she says), but Valentina herself simply reduces fiber intake prior to a shoot to ensure she’s not leaking all over the set, the props, and her co-stars come the day of the shoot. Lubrication is next on Ms. Nappi’s checklist and, boy, is she through, a far cry from the lube-less anal attempts outlined in GQ. Size is also discussed, with Nappi insisting that every ass is different and can accommodate objects of different sizes. Crucially, she points out that the average length of the human rectum ranges from 10cm to 15cm and anything larger than that may end up smashing your colon, potentially resulting in Depends dependency.

Sure, GQ and even Complex’s guides to anal sex lacked the casual language Nappi uses, aiming for a more scientific-sounding approach to anal preparation, but really, at the end of the day which would you trust, the male equivalent of Cosmopolitan, a hip-hop-oriented youth culture magazine, or someone who takes cocks in their ass for a living and is comfortable, confident, and casually serious enough about the safety of her fans’ and fans’ lovers’ assholes that she’d even post a little infographic to help identify the (literal) shit you don’t wanna know about, as well as the (proverbial) shit you absolutely need to know before plunging your boner deep inside a surprisingly sensitive little passage.

You found the perfect woman – she’s intelligent, attractive, has a great sense of humor, and is a deeply sexual being with few obnoxious family members to enter and ruin your life – but there remains one problem: she loves to travel and you’re a aviophobic homebody who can’t get on a plane post-9-11 unless heavily medicated and heading to Vegas. How to keep the flame burning so brightly when you can’t join her on a fucking tour of Central Europe or a trip to Nepal to simultaneously orgasm on a Himalayan mountaintop or receive the blowjob of your life behind Musee d’Orsay, now that’s a challenge you’ll be thrilled to hear can be tackled with sex.

According to therapist and former airline pilot, Tom Bunn, one key to dampening the anxiety caused by airplane travel could be sex. Bunn, who created the SOARprogram to address flight phobias, told of a male client whose flying anxiety made every trip miserable, until he spent one pre-flight evening between the thighs of a newfound sexual partner, staying up late into the night to enjoy their physical pairing. The result was an anxiety-free flight, Bunn says, brought on by increased levels of oxytocin, a nonapeptide hormone generated in the hypothalamus to quell fear and trepidation, replacing them with calmer, more satisfied feelings. Sparked during foreplay, oxytocin offers what Bun calls a “sexual afterglow” and this can be recalled during times of stress, countering anxious thoughts and traumatic memories with, say, the mental image of your partner smiling back at you after roaring through some mighty wild sex.

Unfortunately, Bunn isn’t actually proposing sex on airplanes, instead suggesting the an enjoyable romp the night before a flight should be enough to tackle any unsettling ideas about air travel you might have. And, if not, just make sure to time your lavatory entrances well and don’t be discovered getting it on at 28,000 ft – at least not until you’ve both finished and basking in the toasty afterglow.